AstraZeneca Nabs Second Pfizer Executive in R&D Push

May 26 (Bloomberg) -- AstraZeneca Plc named Martin Mackay
to lead research and development, hiring a Pfizer Inc. executive
for the second time this year as the U.K. drugmaker seeks to
replace revenue it’s losing to generic competitors.

Mackay, a native of Scotland, starts at AstraZeneca July 1,
the company said in a statement today. He ran global research at
New York-based Pfizer, the world’s largest drugmaker, and had
been overseeing the combination of Pfizer’s laboratories with
those of Wyeth after Pfizer bought the company for $68 billion
last year.

At AstraZeneca, he will be charged with helping Chief
Executive Officer David Brennan meet his goal of introducing at
least two new products annually. The London-based company faces
threats from generic drugs to seven products by 2014, including
three of its biggest sellers. The company said in January it
needs $4 billion to $6 billion of revenue from new treatments to
reach its 2014 sales target of $28 billion to $34 billion.

“It’s an organization that’s turning the corner so he’ll
be beholden to Astra to get the drugs onto the market,” Gbola
Amusa, an analyst at UBS AG, said in a telephone interview.
“If it were me I would be more willing to come to a company with
interesting assets than non-interesting assets, so this looks
like a positive” endorsement of AstraZeneca’s pipeline, he
said.

Executive Team

Mackay will report to Brennan and will be a member of the
company’s senior executive team, AstraZeneca said. John
Patterson, the former head of research, retired in early 2009
and Jan Lundberg, head of early-stage drug development, left for
Eli Lilly & Co. last year. AstraZeneca in March hired Pfizer’s
Menelas Pangalos to replace Lundberg.

Brennan has said as many as five new products may reach the
market this year including the Brilinta anti-clotting agent and
Vimivo for pain. The company’s promising experimental projects
include dapagliflozin for diabetes and olaparib, which belongs
to an emerging new class of cancer treatments, according to
Amusa, the UBS analyst, who recommends buying the shares.

Mackay, who was named Pfizer’s head of research almost
three years ago, shared the role with Mikael Dolsten, the former
head of research at Wyeth, following the acquisition. Mackay
oversaw pharmaceutical research and Dolsten was in charge of
biotechnology. Dolsten will replace Mackay, Pfizer said in a
separate statement.

Pfizer has had research setbacks in the past year, with its
experimental Alzheimer’s drug Dimebon and its cancer treatments
Sutent and figitumumab failing to provide a benefit in studies.
Pfizer’s research labs haven’t generated enough new products to
overcome the $11 billion in revenue the company will start
losing when generic copies of its top-selling Lipitor
cholesterol pill come on the market next year.

“Pfizer’s R&D hasn’t lit the world on fire and whether
that is the fault of Mackay or not is up to debate,” said Les
Funtleyder, an analyst with Miller Tabak & Co. in New York. His
departure “isn’t a surprise because there has been a lack of
progress at Pfizer and where there is a lack of progress people
make changes.”